Grid Art

I really did not know what type of piece I wanted to do for this project. I probably spent what seemed like an eternity at Home Depot looking up and down the aisles for the perfect grid.  I finally concluded I wanted to take a tile and make it look glamourous!  I wanted to add some color so I spray painted some of the tile hot pink.   I was going to glue Swavroski crystals on the tile, but it would be expensive so I just used beads I remembered I had.  All the bright colors from the beads reminded me of New York so I figured it would be cool if I spelled out I <3 New York in different color beads.  It did not come out as clean or as lined as wanted to.  There were a lot of beads and I wanted to add another layer or addition to it, so I thought it would be cool to spell out "The City That Never Sleeps," in magazine letters.  I hope you all liked it!

The Perfect Escape

       I went to the Tetris website and it is actually really cool!  I have always loved Tetris, I play it on my phone all the time.  It is kind of funny, my dad was actually addicted to it...i'm not kidding......ok perhaps I am exagerating.  He used to steal my "Gameboy" when I was younger and play Tetris for hours.  It made me so  furious!

       Tetris was born in Moscow!  In 1984 the first edition was created in Moscow by a man of the name of Alexey Pajitnov.  It was then ported to IBM and spread all over Soviet Union.  Tetris started to appear on IBMS in North America and Europe in 1987.  A mere year later, Henk Rogers discovered Tetris in Las Vegas at a Consumer Electronic Show.  Rogers had his own publishing company called Bullet Proof Software where he published his first Nintendo game.

   Rogers went to Moscow to get the rights to Tetris, and when he received the rights he sold it over to Nintendo.  Pajitnov and Rogers became friends.  In 1989 over 35 million copies were sold.  In 1996, Rogers gave the rights back to Pajitnov.   He moved to Hawaii where he established Blue Planet Software.  Hawaii does not sound too shabby.  When the rights were back to Pajitnov, he got Roger Dean to create a fresh look for the game.
 
      In 2000, Tetris became the most popular mobile game in Japan. After the success in Japan, Rogers founded Blue Lava Wireless to see how the game would work on cell phones in North America.  Two years later Jamdat bought Blue Lava Wireless and a 15 year license to buy Tetris through mobile devices.  In 2006, EA bought Jamdat and launched Tetris to iphones making it the number one game downloaded.
      
       I think movie studios started to realease video games because when someone sees a movie, the viewer escapes and can practically envision themselves on the screen.  Just imagine, in a video game you are in control and you become the character.  Movie studios are absolute genuises and make a killing from these games.  Video games like Harry Potter, James Bond, Saving Private Ryan and Batman are all extremely popular.  The gamer can be the hero, that he or she usually views on the screen.  Video games are the perfect escape.
     
       The future of video games is questionable, because of technology advancing into smaller and more accessible means.  Iphone games are hugely popular, as well as computer games.  According to market research firm NPD Group video games were down eight percent from a year ago.  Who knows what will happen next.

Flip book Comments

Rob Pollock-Whoa I totally thought it was a cross. it really does change things.
I really liked your contrast of dark and bright colors. I thought it was cool that your influence was the Space Odyssey.You can also tell that you spent a lot of time on each one of the pages, there are lots of little details I noticed. I enjoyed flipping through your book a lot, and liked the story line, it was planned out extremely well.

Julia Ponzek-Oh my goodness, one-the book you used was so "vintagely" awesome! It went along so well with your illustrations. It looked like the animation just happen to be in there. 

Your artwork was beautiful too, I loved your clever story. I liked that you didn't use color, but that is just my opinion. :) Your drawings were extremely unique. Keep up the good work!

Thuy Pham-Aww your book was adorable. I loved the use of color, that probably took a very long time. Your story line was cute and clever. It really tells a lot that you went over 400 pages, you were definitely dedicated to the project. Haha and its funny Rob said it too about stick figures, but they really do rock. I feel like they make a big difference, and it your story would not have been the same if it was "real" people. FABULOUS job! Keep up the good work.

John O'Neil-Unusual story, your pictures were neat. I liked the one with Gumbi because Gumbi is the cats pajamas. You used a lot of color which definitely shows your dedication to the flip book. It was fun to watch :) Good job!!

Alaina Malarkey- Your caterpillar was super cute.  I liked your theme of nature throughout the book.  It was fun to flip through, and the story made up for the fact that it was under 400 pages! I loved your use of color too. Great work.

Taylor Lane- Taylor! I loved yours! It was super dark and cool. I liked the sharpie idea too. It kind of reminded me of the book, The GIving Tree"-which is like my favorite book by the way. You had a cool concept and story. 

Phenomenal job!

Natasha Kipper-Your drawings were really cute. I liked your story, it was entertaining to flip through. It was cool watching the lives of each fish go by.

Cayla Birkestrand- I loved that you totally took over the book, your concept was really unique.  I liked the light use of color in the light bulb.  It seems like you had some fun with it!  Your work was amazing.  Keep it up!!  


Maureen Horan- I absolutely loved your idea of the ballerina dancing along the pages.  It was really smart of you to use tissue paper too.  I loved your brilliant use of color, and the design towards the end was beautiful.  You can definitely tell you spent a lot of time on the pages.  I can't wait to see more of your work!


Matyia Hamilton- Your flipbook was adorable.  I loved your use of color.  Your story was funny too! Good job!


Nathan Green-All things start small was a cool concept. It was unique and it seemed like you had fun playing with the idea. Your pages had a lot of detail too. Your story flowed well. Great work.

Jessica Delasnueces-Yours was definitely one of my favorites! Your idea was really original, I loved that you used Tetris. That was super smart. The bright colors you used were brilliant. Great work!!

Bianca Burrows-Wow, great idea! Your concept was really fun, and I liked your use of color. Your flipbook flowed really well. It was fun to flip through and you planned out the pages very well. Good job!

Musuem Of Television

       

  This museum almost humors me.  On its mission statement page it says that the museum concentrates on the history of television and the sets.  The statement makes is pretty clear that it is unlike any other NORTH AMERICAN store in the fact that it is exposing history and not just showing televisions (like some United States commercial one would).  Oh Canada, I feel like they totally hate Americans....but then again who doesn't?
        I did think the museum seemed pretty cool.  I liked the Marilyn Monroe exhibit.  The graphics and linkage techniques were really neat to experiment with.   The timeline was super awesome too.  Each time I scrolled to a new year new links instantly appeared, and the image changed immediately! It was like a powerpoint I could control myself.  I was very impressed with the technology used in this website.

WIRED!

Check it out.  http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/10/cinema-breakthroughs-busts/?pid=1205&viewall=true
      Whoa.  I have seen so many so many of these movies mentioned in this article, and I was not aware of how advanced they were for their time.  Snow White was probably the first movie I remember ever seeing!! 

I also saw Star Wars Attack of The Clone, that was shot in 24 frame-per-second HD digital video.  Just think exactly one century from Star Wars, was  Georges Méliès's movie A Trip to The Moon (Le Voyage Dans La Lune.   
     I totally feel like The Birth of a Nation would be a bore to watch, a silent action film?  Watching an action film in a theater is like going to a Metallica concert.  You may even loose your hearing!  I'm sure I have lost mine through my headphones.  Speaking of Action, I also watched Apocolypse Now in my cultural theory class.  I did think the movie was so loud!!!! Now I know why, it was because of its surround sound which was kind of awful but it was the first type of sound like that for its time.  


    Ya learn something new every day! P.S. SO EXCITED FOR GLEE TONIGHT.... 

    

Doctor Weird?

       I think the olden days are so corny.  Humor has totally changed throughout time.  Dr. Weird probably seemed probably so entertaining and funny to its viewers of the shows time, but if it was played today, I honestly do not think it would last.  Also, I do love that in this year and time that we are so spoiled by technology because the show sounds so harsh!  I could not stand listening to the fuzziness.
        
          Listening to a show and using your imagination is so much different.  I definitely had to concentrate a lot more to what I was hearing, I admit I did catch myself zoning out.   I missed being able to depend on my eyes!

http://www.otr.com/ra/01%20The%20House%20Where%20Death%20Lived.mp3

Flip book pages

Pages from my flip book animation! 

What happened?

SO CREEPY.
      

       A LOT happened between the 50s and 70s.  In the 50s tragedies went down like the Korean War, Suez Crisis and the Cuban Revolution.  The fifty's were a pretty good time for the most part though.  Well WWII was over and people were starting to get back on their feet.  Elvis also made is debut ;)  But SO did Marilyn Monroe. When the movie Singing in The Rain made its debut, it did not grow popular until later.  And is now considered to be one of the best on film musicals, probably because it was the first of its kind.  And check it out, Sputnik was launched-but we did get the first man on the moon.



    Civil rights went down too.  In 1954s infamous court case Brown v. Board, it was decided that segregated schools were no more.  Oh snap.  The next big riot began with Ms. Rosa Parks.  Her little stunt caused a boycott that pushed bus revenues down 80%.  Next thing you know, buses are desegregated.  These minor and MAJOR boycotts went on until 1968.  In 1964, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act!  Martin Luther King Jr. became the father of desegregation and literally gave his life for African Americans rights.  And after that the ever so handsome John F. Kennedy was assasinated!

        Many people like John F. Kennedy too. The TV became pretty popular in 1960 and according to Britannica Encyclopedia, "Between 1960 and 1965, the average number of daily hours spent in front of a TV screen increased by 23 minutes, (the largest rise since 1950)."  At the end of the 60s people started to get riled up about the Vietnam War.    


   Singing in the Rain came out in the United States in 1952 when life was good in the United States-besides the Korean War.  People had money, cars, and they were starting to buy more and more televisions and telephones.  The scene we watched in class was couldn't help but make you happy and want to sing.  Life was good for America so why not sing about it?  


     It's funny, because the other "singing in the rain" scene, from A Clockwork Orange, made me want to vomit.   The character totally ignores rape and violence and commits heinous crimes.  The british movie was released at a time when the UK was not in a good position.  Their economy was on the rocks, and immigration became a problem.   In 1971 the microprocesser was created, which has to got to be like prehistoric to us now.  When the movie came out, the civil rights move was over and people felt free to speak their voices.  People started to express their feelings towards war ... and "The Beatles" kept releasing beautiful songs.  Everyone was a bit more accepting, music became more edgy, people started to experiment with drugs and engage in more sex.  


    One scene was released during a time when families were happy and the other extreme was shown when people started to express what they feel more and revolt.